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Assistance Dog Named after Prince Harry Transforms Life of Namesake, aged 6

04 December 2019

Newly qualified assistance dog Prince, sponsored and named by Barking Mad Dog Care, has been officially matched by inspirational charity Dogs for Good to a six-year-old boy with autism, who in a twist of fate is called Harry. Prince was born on 16th February 2018, with his name chosen in celebration of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. 

Managing Director of Barking Mad, Rachel Stewart, said: 

“We are delighted to see Prince, the dog we have sponsored, go on to make such a life changing difference to Harry and his family. With incredible support from our network of franchise business owners, customers and host dog sitters, through events such as coffee mornings, quizzes and making toy puppies out of facecloths to sell, we are honoured to be able to contribute to the amazing work of this inspirational charity. 

Time after time we see the emotional and physical effects that dogs have on the members of our host community, who care for our doggy guests whilst their owners are away. These beautiful canine creatures give so much to their human companions on a completely unconditional basis. It is our understanding of the benefits of dog companionship which has led us to become official supporters of Dogs for Good.” 

Dogs for Good and Barking Mad have been working together since October 2017 when the multi award-winning dog sitting franchise got involved in the charity’s annual fundraiser ‘Dogtober’. Following the great response to that and clear synergy between the charity and the business, Barking Mad decided to make Dogs for Good their chosen charity to support longer term through the Puppy Partners programme. Prince was named and supported through his training and from Oct 2018 another puppy, Wendy, has also been receiving support. The current total raised is nearly £19,000. 

Cathryn Simpson, Corporate Partnerships Manager for Dogs for Good said, 

“Dogs for Good relies entirely on donations to carry out its life-changing work.  Partnerships with organisations like Barking Mad are important to the charity and we enjoy working with the incredibly enthusiastic team to increase awareness, raising funds to enable us to change lives.  

Over the next five years, we’ll grow our assistance dog services to change the lives of more children and adults, develop our family dog services to support more families with autistic children, help more people overcome challenges in their lives through the specialist support our community dog service can bring and share information and advice to enable more people to be supported by dogs.” 

Barking Mad will be continuing to raise money for Dogs for Good to train more desperately needed assistance dogs throughout 2020, by holding local events and via their online fundraising page, https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/barkingmad-dogsforgood. 

Barking Mad is part of the Franchise Brands plc group of companies and is the UK’s favourite dog holiday company, as verified by TrustPilot. Contact Barking Mad to find your dog’s home from home today.


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